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Gold Fields sees 87% improvement at South Deep - SABC News

Gold Fields on Thursday pointed to an 87 % increase in production at its sole South African mine as it reported “materially higher earnings and cash flow” in the first half of the year.

The company said the increase at South Deep – from 2,332kg in the first half of 2015 to 4,356kg – was driven by increased volumes and grade.

All-in costs at the mine had decreased by 19 % year-on-year to R622,453/kg.

A statement from the company added that safety “continued to be a priority at South Deep”, with no fatalities reported in the period under review and the total reported injury rate improving by 5 % .

Helped along by the higher rand gold price, net cash outflow for the period was R50 million compared with an outflow of R728 million in the corresponding period last year. Gold Fields noted that the mine had been cash positive in the quarter to June 2016.

The update about South Deep was in a statement about the group’s results for the first half of the year.

Chief Executive Nick Holland said it was pleasing to report the results "into a much more buoyant gold market compared with the start of the year".

The New York and Johannesburg-listed miner said total headline earnings for the first half had come in at 124 million dollars or 16 U.S. cents a share, up from U.S.5 million dollars or 1 U.S. cent a share a year before.

The company, which also operates mines in Australia, Ghana and Peru, said it was paying an interim dividend of 50 SA cents per share, which is 12.5 times higher than the 2015 interim dividend of 4 cents per share.

As a result of the better than expected performance at South Deep, Gold Fields said it had increased production guidance for the mine by 1,000 kg to 9,000 kilograms.